medical negligence in Ireland

I'm working with an attorney, Patricia Mallon, in Cork, Ireland on a training (April 17, 2012) and dialogue (April 18, 2012) in health care. For the training, we will bring together attorneys, physicians, law and medical school professors, legislators, administrative agency staff, hospital risk management, patients, families, government officials, and others to learn the collaborative law/collaborative practices framework in medical error and other healthcare situations. The dialogue will provide a forum in which stakeholders in healthcare in Ireland come together in dialogue, recognize their shared commitment to the community, promote exploration of common ground, share their multiple points of view, speak their experiences, listen to each other, learn and think together, make a contribution, and create safe, healthy healthcare for all; reframe the conversation in the direction of collaboration, determination of common goals, and relaxation of our grip on certainty; support conversations that have not previously taken place; and encourage participants to continue the conversations with co-workers, their communities, and other interested individuals.

This is very exciting since there is, at times, some resistance from some of the stakeholders to bringing together these varied professionals and practitioners to discuss non-adversarial, healing practices in situations both before and after medical error. That resistance may arise, in part, out of mistrust and misunderstanding, which can be addressed through the dialogue process. The way forward begins with listening to each other and discovering new ways of being and working together.